Lighting networks enable a comprehensive control of a plurality of luminaire devices. For example, a lighting network may allow to control a plurality of luminaire devices individually from a centralised control device. For example, for each luminaire device a certain function like dim level, colour or optical exposure may be individually controlled. Lighting networks may be employed on both indoor and outdoor lighting of commercial, industrial and residential spaces. For example, in a large store shop windows may each be illuminated by a plurality of luminaire devices. Illumination features of each shop window may be changed depending on the time of day or the products arranged in the shop window. In another example, in a stage lighting several groups of luminaire devices may be assigned to a plurality of different illumination tasks, for example background illumination, foreground illumination, coloured illumination and other special effect illuminations, and the luminaire devices assigned to a special group may be controlled commonly. Therefore, commissioning of groups and scenes in a lighting network has to be conducted when setting up the lighting network.
In this context, commissioning of a luminaire device in a lighting network comprises programming a luminaire device to a dedicated behaviour and/or to become a known located luminaire device in a community of networked luminaire devices. Each dedicated luminaire device may be controlled to perform a certain function like dim level, colour or optical exposure. Furthermore, each dedicated luminaire device may become a member of a device group or a scene. A group of luminaire devices can communicate with each other via a dedicated network. A group control may request all members of a group with support of the requested function to perform an action in synchrony. A scene is a set of functions and their settings supported by a dedicated luminaire device that can be stored and recalled by a control command. A luminaire device may comprise for example a luminaire unit and an integrated control unit with the control unit providing an interface for coupling to the network and controlling the luminaire unit. A luminaire device may also comprise a separate control unit, which may be coupled to a separate luminaire unit for controlling the luminaire unit in response to information received from the network.
Commissioning of groups and scenes in a lighting network is usually done manually. For example, for commissioning and programming lighting networks such as DALI (digital addressable lighting interface) or wired or wireless IP-based networks a so-called “fire and forget” type of action may be performed, where a lighting installation is programmed once and rarely touched. Therefore, changing the commissioning behaviour or re-commissioning the existing setup or replacing luminaire devices requires a skilled professional.
Thus, there is a need for improving and simplifying commissioning of luminaire devices in lighting networks.